Commerce
The Advantages of Restaurant Subscriptions and Memberships
April 8, 2021
From acclaimed restaurants to craft beer shops, businesses are getting in on the emerging trend.
Diners are looking for new ways to engage with and support their favorite neighborhood restaurants. And for restaurants, it’s a pertinent time to get creative and act on the increasing demand. Over the last year, we’ve seen the birth of at-home meal kits, virtual cooking classes and the heavy adoption of direct online ordering for pickup and delivery. Alongside these new trends are restaurant subscriptions and memberships. What exactly are they and how are restaurants executing them?
PRODUCT
Online Ordering for Restaurants
Drive more revenue with unified, branded, commission-free online ordering.
How and Why Memberships Benefit Restaurants
In short, restaurant memberships or subscriptions are like any other type of subscription service. Diners sign up and pay for a certain amount of product that recurs on a regularly agreed-upon basis. Subscription packages can range from dinner kits, bread & pastries to packages of hand-selected craft beers. Any restaurant type can get in on the action. It just takes planning, execution and a solid marketing plan to start bringing in the orders.
Subscription models benefit both the restaurant and diners. Restaurants are tapping into an upfront, recurring revenue stream that greatly improves their bottom line. It also connects them with their guests in a new and engaging way. For diners, they receive a product they know and love while with the peace of mind that they are supporting their favorite local restaurants in exchange.
In an Uncertain Time, a Trend Emerges
Vinay Gupta is the creator of Summerlong Supper Club — a 100% charitable membership dinner program designed to help restaurants through the pandemic winter and see that they come out stronger on the other side. At a critical point in the pandemic, with on-premise dining largely shuttered and cold, inhospitable weather set to affect outdoor operations, Summerlong Supper Club was born. Vinay, alongside others, knew they needed to help restaurants weather the storm. According to Vinay, it all started by asking the question, what's gonna be most compelling here for both the restaurants and diners and what’s the most essential problem to solve?
“The biggest problem for restaurants right now is the uncertainty. Even In the best of times, the restaurant business is an uncertain one. You have this basic model where you eat and then you pay — instead of paying and then eating. That's very different from a lot of other goods. To add on top of that, restaurants have to ask if anyone is going to show up to dine? And even more, in the pandemic, things are changing weekly— will they even be able to operate come next week? So we thought the only way to really offer anything meaningful to restaurants would be to give them guaranteed income,” says Vinay.
The end result is a subscription-like model giving diners the ability to pay upfront for eight weekly meals over the course of two months from a curated selection of acclaimed New York City restaurants. The best part is that 100% of the proceeds go directly to participating restaurants.
“The central tenet is that restaurants should be paid in advance for what they're doing in order to balance the risk/reward equation between diners and restaurants. It's a hard time for restaurants, but there's this new frontier that's happening for them. Diners are looking for more ways to support restaurants, they're looking for more opportunities to engage with these restaurants, build more loyalty to them and support them in any way they can.” Restaurant memberships are a fantastic way to achieve this and benefit both parties.
From Bakeries to Beer Shops — a Variety of Restaurant Memberships
While Summerlong Supper Club is its own initiative and membership platform, individual restaurants are getting in on the trend. There’s an array of concepts and cuisine-types that are actively offering subscriptions and memberships.
Oddfellow Inn & Farm, based out of Helena, MT, offers their Maison 10 Week Meal Kit Subscription through their website. Guests can choose between a 5 or 10-week option and also can sign up for a wine subscription for an additional cost. For Oddfellow Inn & Farm, these subscriptions are an easy way to capture upfront revenue, plan out food costs in advance and engage with their diners in a new, creative way.
Another great example of a business offering subscriptions is Cafe Du Pain Bakery out of Lawrenceville, NJ. Loyal followers of the bakery can sign up for their Bread and Pastries Club which offers three, six and twelve-month membership options directly through their website. Guests pay an upfront cost and can have their items delivered or available for in-store pickup. The memberships include a variety of bread and pastry types from around the world, making this a unique chance to taste an array of Cafe Du Pain’s artisanal goods.
When you think about restaurant subscriptions, flowers aren’t what first comes to mind. But at Il Fiorista, a restaurant, bar, cafe, florist, boutique and community education space in New York City, all these elements combine to create a truly unique hospitality experience. Alongside floral arrangement classes and ordering pasta kits online, guests can subscribe to ten or twenty-stem weekly hand-tied, floral bouquet subscriptions that range from five to ten weeks.
Lastly, bars, breweries and taprooms can get in on the action too. Top Hops Beer Shop in New York City offers beer lovers from across the country an opportunity to receive a seasonal beer offering, specially designed for them. The Tops From Ted is Top Hops subscription beer package. Guests can inquire about the subscription and sign up directly through the website. It’s a great way for Top Hops to curate their latest favorites and gives guests the excitement of new, seasonal flavors, selected just for them.
Getting Started
While membership services aren’t exactly new, the ability for guests to subscribe to their favorite local restaurants is a developing trend that is here to stay. For restaurants, memberships and subscriptions are advantageous for their bottom line. As Vinay Gupta of Summerlong Supper Club adds, “I think that these types of models make sense because it's something that will help to reduce what is historically a very risky business and probably doesn’t need to be quite so risky.” And as guests demand more ways to interact with their favorite spots, restaurants, bars and bakeries are all heeding the call.
Getting started is easy. Restaurants can turn to their website as the origin of their new offering. With BentoBox, restaurants can similarly offer and promote subscription packages just as the examples above have done. To get started, book a demo with a BentoBox specialist today to learn how.
BentoBox Marketing & Commerce Platform
Deliver Smarter Hospitality
Want to stand out online, bring in more money, engage your diners, and streamline operations?
Recommended
Commerce
The Simple, Effective Way to Sell More Restaurant Gift Cards
December 29, 2020
How to increase your gift card sales with one easy move.
Websites
No, Your Restaurant Doesn’t Need An App
July 10, 2024
Debunking a common myth about online ordering.
Commerce
5 Restaurant Problems an Online Catering Store Solves
September 30, 2021
We built our Online Catering tool to address specific problems we heard from restaurant professionals. Which ones does your restaurant need help with?